Dark Arts

Nemaworkshop’s transformation of the W New Orleans—French Quarter captures the charms and mysterious undercurrents of the city without skipping a beat on the hotel’s signature style.

By Erika Templeton
Photography by Vincent Chih-Chieh Chin

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The Courtyard features contrasting elements of fire and water, and a nod to classic French Quarter living.
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Outdoor sofas and cabanas are adorned with tarot card pillows designed by W Design Group and manufactured by Francis Jena Spita of FJS Pillows.
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Corridors on the
tarot-themed floors feature Designtex wallcoverings with a voodoo-inspired pattern by nemaworkshop; for a touch of cohesion, all floors feature the same chevron-patterned carpet from Clayton Miller.
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Nemaworkshop designed the Tarot guestroom artwork, a fresh application of the classic Queen of Pentacles image.
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Jazz rooms get a blast of brass from abstract trumpet artwork designed by Martin Menocal.
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Guests get a shot of cool blue on their way to the Courtyard and WET pool.
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Nemaworkshop was inspired by musicians’ cummerbunds when designing the bed throw and pillows for the hotel’s jazz-themed rooms.
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The fiery light of New Orleans’ courtyards continues on in the elevator lobby with artwork created by nemaworkshop.
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What is New Orleans? It’s the Big Easy, the birthplace of jazz and the levee—home to Bourbon Street, the po’boy and Louisiana voodoo. Whatever comes to mind, one thing is clear: the city of New Orleans has an undeniable voice all its own.

Thanks to the tireless work of the staff at Starwood Hotels and Resorts, so does the W Hotel.

As the chain moves forward with a comprehensive renovation strategy to update its North American portfolio, more than 10 W properties are set to complete renovations by February 2014. The recent transformation of the W New Orleans—French Quarter serves as an insightful microcosm of their efforts as they stay true to their own brand, while celebrating the distinct cultures of the cities where they operate.

Nemaworkshop, an interior design and architecture firm based in New York City, led the full-scale renovation of the W New Orleans—French Quarter, which was unveiled in the middle of 2012. Principal Anurag Nema and his team worked closely with the W to create a narrative-based design that would gracefully merge the two distinct voices of the city and the hotel into one cohesive story.

“The goal was that, while following the W DNA, by the time the project is done the design can be only New Orleans,” Nema says.

Thanks to the city’s rich culture, the designers found so many stories they “almost created a whole book” during planning. The group spent much of their time meeting with locals and hotel staff, editing back ideas, and identifying clear synergies between the W and the city that would also create an alluring guest experience. Ultimately, they landed on a narrative about New Orleans’ origins in jazz and voodoo—notions that blend seamlessly with the W’s ties to adventure and energy.

According to the initial design intent, “What binds these is that they are both unscripted and emerge from a mysterious underground. Like the city of New Orleans itself, they have their own internal logic which is intuitive, impulsive and spontaneous.”

It’s quite befitting, too, for a firm like nemaworkshop, which is a strong proponent of a fluid, research-based design approach that allows stories to form organically as ideas come forward, rather than imposing a top-down design.

The hotel features two distinct themes, Jazz and Tarot, which alternate floor by floor. All 97 guest rooms feature an eye-catching corner-wrapped image, which spans from floor to ceiling and continues on across part of the ceiling itself. Jazz room guests will find a close-up image of a trumpet, while Tarot room guests will see the queen of pentacles.

In classic W fashion, each room also boasts clean lines in modern blacks and whites. Here, the hotel’s signature style is mixed with gold tones and rich primary colors relevant to the design motifs. Jazz rooms are bright and vibrant like the music itself, with golden yellow walls and white lacquered furniture; tarot rooms are more dark and sultry, with deep blue hues and furnishings inspired by the famed New Orleans voodoo queen, Marie Laveau.

How do you know you’ve hit the nail on the head? When hotel staffers familiar with voodoo practice refuse to enter. That was the challenge Nema faced when he started inviting local stakeholders into his mock-up room, which featured a portrait of Laveau.

“We come from outside, we try to learn as much as we can and sort of pick what’s interesting to us, but at the same time, we of course think of practicality and of the people,” he says.